The Postcard
In January 2003, an anonymous postcard arrives at Anne Berest's mother's Paris apartment listing four names: Ephraïm, Emma, Noémie, Jacques Rabinovitch, the great-grandparents, great-aunt, and great-uncle Berest's family lost at Auschwitz. The book splits into two halves. The first reconstructs the Rabinovitch family across the 20th century, from a Moscow exit through Riga and Palestine to a small village outside Paris where the police came for them in 1942. The second is a present-day investigation, with Berest visiting archivists, historians, and surviving relatives to identify whoever sent the postcard 60 years after the deportations. Translated from French by Tina Kover.
What you might want to know about The Postcard
The questions readers send us most often, answered without spoilers.
A French novelist reconstructs her great-grandparents' Holocaust deaths and hunts for the anonymous sender of a 2003 postcard that named the four lost relatives.
Yes. The Postcard is fictionalized memoir based on Anne Berest's own family history. The novel begins with a real anonymous postcard her family received in 2003 listing four Holocaust victims by name. Berest investigates the family history that follows.
Yes. La carte postale won France's Prix Renaudot des Lyceens. The English translation by Tina Kover was longlisted for the International Booker Prize and was a New York Times Notable Book.
The Postcard was written by Anne Berest, published in 2023 by Penguin Random House Grupo Editorial.
The Postcard is a standalone novel by Anne Berest, not part of a series.
The Postcard is available in hardcover, paperback, ebook, and audiobook formats from Amazon, Bookshop.org, ThriftBooks, and most major bookstores.